Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes,
exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that
did not commit suicide. John Adams (1814)
Our
peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution.
Let us not make it a blank paper by construction. - Thomas Jefferson
to Wilson Nicholas, 1803
" I
consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground:
That "all powers not delegated to the United States, by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to
the States or to the people." To take a single step beyond the
boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to
take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible
of any definition. - Thomas Jefferson
Do not separate text from historical background. If
you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution,
which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate
government. James Madison
To maintain the ascendancy of the Constitution over
the lawmaking majority is the great and essential point on which the
success of the [American] system must depend; unless that ascendancy
can be preserved, the necessary consequence must be that the laws
will supersede the Constitution; and, finally, the will of the
Executive, by influence of its patronage, will supersede the laws
... -- John C. Calhoun (1782-1850)
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin
Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all
nations; entangling alliances with none. Thomas Jefferson
A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men
from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to
regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall
not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is
the sum of good government. Thomas Jefferson (1801)
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield
and government to gain ground. Thomas Jefferson
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the
tempestuous sea of Liberty. Thomas Jefferson
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the
tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for
freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor
your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your
chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were
our countrymen. Samuel Adams
The legitimate powers of government extend to such
acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for
my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither
picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. Thomas Jefferson (1781)
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased
at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know
not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or
give me death! -Patrick Henry to the Virginia House of Burgesses,
1775
To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for
the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is
sinful and tyrannical. Thomas Jefferson
Those who expect to reap the benefits of freedom,
must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. Thomas Paine
Government at its best is a necessary evil, and at its
worst, an intolerant one. Thomas Paine
I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility
against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. Thomas
Jefferson (1800)
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and
the destiny of the Republican model of government, are justly
considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment
entrusted to the hands of the American people. George Washington
I have ever deemed it fundamental for the United
States never to take active part in the quarrels of Europe. Their
political interests are entirely distinct from ours. Their mutual
jealousies, their balance of power, their complicated alliances,
their forms and principles of government, are all foreign to us.
They are nations of eternal war. Thomas Jefferson (1823)
America does not go abroad in search of monsters to
destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of
all. She well knows that by enlisting under other banners than her
own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would
involve herself beyond the power of extrication in all the wars of
interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy and ambition,
which assume the colors and usurp the standards of freedom. John
Quincy Adams (1821)
An Avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty.
It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the
best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard
even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he
establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. Thomas Paine
God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are
always ready to guard and defend it. Daniel Webster (1834)
Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America.
Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world, and she has
nothing to do but to trade with them. Thomas Paine (1776)
If angels were to govern men, neither external nor
internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a
government that is to be administered by men over men, the great
difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to
control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control
itself. James Madison
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with
the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the
government of others? Thomas Jefferson (1801)
Good intentions will always be pleaded for every
assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the
Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of
good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well,
but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they
mean to be masters. Daniel Webster (1782-1852)
In matters of Power, let no more be heard of
confidence in men, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of
the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson
The Constitution is not an instrument for the
government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the
people to restrain the government lest it come to dominate our
lives and interests. Patrick Henry
The
care of every man's soul belongs to himself. But what if he neglect
the care of it? Well what if he neglect the care of his health or
his estate, which would more nearly relate to the state. Will the
magistrate make a law that he not be poor or sick? Laws provide
against injury from others; but not from ourselves. God himself will
not save men against their wills. Thomas Jefferson
If we were directed from Washington when to sow and
when to reap, we would soon want for bread. Thomas Jefferson
There are more instances of the abridgement of the
freedom of the people by the gradual and silent encroachment of
those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpation. James
Madison
Where is it written in the Constitution, in what
section or clause is it contained, that you may take children from
their parents and parents from their children, and compel them to
fight the battle in any war in which the folly or the wickedness of
government may engage it? Daniel Webster
When all government, in little as in great things,
shall be drawn to Washington as the Center of all power, it will
render powerless the checks provided of one government on another
and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which
we separated. Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can
prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under
the pretense of taking care of them. Thomas Jefferson
On every question of construction, let us carry
ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted,
recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of
trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented
against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.
Thomas Jefferson
When the government fears the people, it is liberty.
When the people fear the government, it is tyranny. Thomas Paine
The course of history shows that as a government
grows, liberty decreases. Thomas Jefferson
Before a standing army can rule, the people must be
disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme
power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because
the whole body of people are armed, and constitute a force superior
to any body of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised
in the United States. Noah Webster
I believe the states can best govern our home concerns
and the federal government our foreign ones. Thomas Jefferson
The policy of the American government is to leave
their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their
pursuits. Thomas Jefferson
A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody
ought not to be trusted by anybody. Thomas Paine
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer
soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from
the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserves the
love and thanks of man and woman. Heaven knows how to put a proper
price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial
an article as Freedom should not be highly rated. Thomas Paine
I have thought that a man of tolerable abilities may
work great changes if he first forms a good plan and makes the
execution of that same plan his whole study and business. Benjamin
Franklin
The man who reads nothing at all is better educated
than the man who reads nothing but the newspapers. Thomas
Jefferson
Arbitrary power is most easily established on the
ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness. George Washington
I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It
is always oppressive. Thomas Jefferson
Resistance to tyranny is service to God. James
Madison
Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the
accidental opinion of a day. But a series of oppressions, begun at a
distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change
of ministers, too plainly proves a deliberate systematic plan of
reducing us to slavery. Thomas Jefferson
The principle of spending money to be paid by
posterity, under the name of funding, is but a swindling futurity on
a large scale. Thomas Jefferson
Democracies have been found incompatible with personal
security or the rights of property; and in general have been as
short in their lives as they have been violent in their death.
James Madison
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away
from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson
It will be of little avail to the people that the laws
are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous
that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be
understood, if they be repealed or revised before they are
promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who
knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be like
tomorrow. James Madison, Federalist Paper #62
If there be any among us who wish to dissolve the
Union or to change its Republican form, let them stand undisturbed,
as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be
tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. Thomas
Jefferson's First Inaugural Address
Experience [has] shown that, even under the best forms
[of government], those entrusted with power have, in time and by
slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. Thomas Jefferson 1779
The Constitution only guarantees the American people
the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
Benjamin Franklin
In a republican nation whose citizens are to be led by
reason and persuasion and not by force, the art of reasoning becomes
of first importance. Thomas Jefferson, 1824
The ground of liberty is to be gained by inches, and
we must be contented to secure what we can get from time to time and
eternally press forward for what is yet to get. It takes time to
persuade men to do even what is for their own good. Thomas
Jefferson
I shall exert every faculty I possess in aiding to
prevent the Constitution from being nullified, destroyed, or
impaired; and even though I should see it fail, I will still, with a
voice feeble, perhaps, but earnest as ever issued from human lips,
and with extinguish, call on the people to come to its rescue.
Daniel Webster
Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps
the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ
of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed
debts and taxes; and armies, debts, and taxes are the known
instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few
No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual
warfare. James Madison
Government ought to be as much open to improvement as
anything which appertains to man, instead of which it has been
monopolized from age to age, by the most ignorant and vicious of the
human race. Need we any other proof of their wretched management,
than the excess of debts and taxes with which every nation groans,
and the quarrels into which they have precipitated the world?
Thomas Paine
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable
on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It
will often be exercised when wrong but better so than not to be
exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like
a storm in the atmosphere. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1846), U.S.
President, Letter to Abigail Adams, 22 February 1787
To preserve our independence, we must not let our
rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election
between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. .I place
economy among the first and most important of republican virtues,
and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared.
President Thomas Jefferson
It would be thought a hard government that should tax
its people one tenth part. Benjamin Franklin
No nation was ever ruined by trade. Benjamin
Franklin
My reading of history convinces me that most bad
government results from too much government. Thomas Jefferson.
If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey
it, he is obligated to do so. Thomas Jefferson
The truth is that all men having power ought to be
mistrusted. James Madison (1751-1836)
If people let government decide what foods they eat
and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry
a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny. Thomas
Jefferson
An elective despotism was not the government we fought
for. Thomas Jefferson
I cannot undertake to lay my finger upon an article of
the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on
the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents. James
Madison
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to
our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of
others. I do not add "within the law," because law is often but the
tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the
individual. Thomas Jefferson
Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the
government but illegal for the citizenry. Thomas Jefferson
To say that a bad government must be established for
fear of anarchy is really saying that we should kill ourselves for
fear of dying. Richard Henry Lee (1732- 1794), Member of
Continental Congress, Signer of the Declaration of Independence,
U.S. Senator
The power to declare war, including the power of
judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the
legislature
the executive has no right, in any case, to decide the
question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.
James Madison (1751-1836), 4th U.S. President
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will
be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. James Madison
(1751-1836), 4th U.S. President
It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country
from its government. Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
The constitution vests the power of declaring war in
Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be
undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject
and authorized such a measure. George Washington
Where Liberty dwells, there is my country. Benjamin
Franklin
Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and
should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common
sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical
subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at
pleasure. --Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 1823. ME
Our legislators are not sufficiently apprized of the
rightful limits of their power; that their true office is to declare
and enforce only our natural rights and duties, and to take none of
them from us. Thomas Jefferson, Letter to F. W. Gilmer, 1816
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Thomas
Jefferson
Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the
general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated. Thomas
Jefferson
With respect to the words "general welfare," I have
always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected
with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a
metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a
host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators. James Madison
When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider
himself public property. Thomas Jefferson
The issue today is the same as it has been throughout
all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be
ruled by a small elite. Thomas Jefferson
That measures of this nature [military conscription]
should be debated at all in the councils of a free government is
cause of dismay. The question is nothing less than whether the most
essential rights of personal liberty shall be surrendered and
despotism embraced in its worst form. Daniel Webster
Nothing gives one person so much advantage over
another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all
circumstances. Thomas Jefferson
It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling
alliances with any portion of the foreign world. The great rule of
conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our
commercial relations, to have with them as little political
connection as possible. George Washington
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